Pages

The NY Times had an interesting piece a couple days ago focusing on the “lost generation” of workers in Europe. Essentially, there are no jobs for young people. The European economies are so bad that “young” includes people well into their 30s.

The Times, of course, doesn’t connect the dots so I’ll do it for them: the moribund economies of Europe are the inevitable result of leftwing policies. It is entirely predictable that this will happen when government’s key role becomes guaranteeing the material comfort of the people rather than guaranteeing the opportunity to earn your own material comfort. Yes, high taxes, strong unions, restrictive labor polices, expansive welfare states, massive government spending on “benefits” will kill your economy over time. There’s no surprise here.

But the left isn’t ready to accept the reality that’s staring them in the face because it would threaten their entire intellectual framework. If the European welfare states prove unsustainable then the left’s credibility is shot and their self-serving justifications for expansive government crumble. The left has become a one trick pony (their solution to all problems, real and imagined, is more government power, more taxes and more spending) and if big government turns out to be harmful then the left has nothing to offer.